Tag Archives: world view

Autumn is the season for American prime time TV, which means a whole host of old shows have just started a new season, and a couple of new ones have kicked off in the last few weeks. TV shows are a fascinating window into popularphilosophy, and I often find myself thinking about the world views being portrayed in different shows.

Here is a brief list of what Im watching at the moment, and why its fascinating.

Heroes: The line between right and wrong is blurred beyond recognition, anti-heroes abound and even the purest character has begun to fall this season. This is what would really happen if people had special powers, no comic book style good guys, just regular people warts and all.

House: Greg kicks off the start of the season in a psychiatric hospital because he basically went insane at the end of the previous one. Will he come back truly changed by the experience? There is also a lot of insight into relationships this season, both friendship and romantic.

Dollhouse: I watched epitaph one which was an unaired episode put out on the season one DVD and it was superb. The whole concept of people being able to buy any person they want, which then shifts towards turning yourself into any person you want. The show really does hit the nail on the head with the consequences.

Flashforward: Everyone blacks out for 137 seconds and sees what will happen in 6 months time. The show is good fun, but it also asks the deeper question of what exactly your response would be to this knowledge?

Every TV show has useful insights into how other people think, and I highly recommend watching TV critically. Dont just let it wash over you as an escape from the real world.

I spend a lot of time absorbing media from the world around me, mostly in the form of TV, music and computer games. I was really struck by some stuff Mark Driscoll said during his talk on being a missional Church which has really changed the way I do that absorbing.

Ever since the conference I have been finding myself asking questions about what I watch/listen to/play. Questions like “what world has this artist painted?”, “why does this situation appeal to me?”, “what is wrong with this world view?”. Essentially I have found myself picking apart the world view that the media is trying to put across, and frankly it’s fascinating!

I found a new depth to the episode of Star Trek where the crew find a paradise world which seems to have no unlawfullness, only to discover that the reason for this was that the punishment for even the smallest crime was immediate death. This utopia is of course flawed because it relies on the assumption that people are actually capable of being good with the correct motivation. It does however imply that the law makers managed to convince the society as a whole at some stage that death was an appropriate punishment for all crime, not something I can really imagine happening but at least some people will entertain the idea!

A while back I had a spurt of writing reviews of various things (mostly movies and beer), I might get back into the habit with a slightly different approach and aim in mind.